Presently Futuristic
by Shoequeeny
Summary: For once Chris and Wyatt really hadn't planned on jumping through time.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: Like I would've killed Chris!

A/N: Well, I've not even watched the episode yet (UK viewer stuck at uni without cable), except for that one little snippet where Chris died, and, yes, I cried. The point is I've not seen the finale and I'm already writing fic that would get Drew Fuller back on my screen.

"You know, I just don't think this is the best idea ever."

"You always worry too much," Wyatt replied, a slight smirk playing about his lips as he turned to face his younger brother. Chris frowned back at him, running a hand through his short, cropped hair.

"Well, that's because you never worry," he replied.

Wyatt shrugged, turning back to the table and adding another ingredient to the pot on the table. "I worry about the important stuff."

Chris grinned. "Oh, you mean like you're not sure whether or not you're ready to propose to Bianca?" He shrugged as he watched his brother's shoulders tense. "Cos I could see how that could worry you."  
  
Wyatt span round, brandishing a piece of parchment at him. "How is it that you're twenty-two years old and yet just as annoying as you were when you were seven?"

"It's a gift," Chris paused, and leaned over the table next to Wyatt. "And I still think this is a bad idea."  
  
"Just a minute ago you said that it wasn't the best idea ever, you never mentioned it being a bad idea."  
  
"I changed my mind. I mean, seriously Wyatt," Chris gestured at the pot on the table, "the potion isn't even the right colour."

Wyatt shrugged. "How exactly do you know what colour the potion is supposed to be?"

Chris glared at him. "Well, some of us weren't born the Twice-Blessed child and so actually spent some time studying the book."

"Look, Chris, my dearest younger brother," said Wyatt exasperated, "we're making a headache potion for Aunt Paige. What's the worst that could happen?"  
  
"Personal gain, I tell you, personal gain," Chris said, shaking his head.

"Look, nothing that bad can come of this, I promise you," Wyatt said, absent-mindedly throwing the last ingredient in the pot.

Chris' eyes followed his actions as the potion began to hiss and steam in an alarming manner. "Ri-ight," he drew the word out, stepping away from the table and dragging Wyatt with him, "that might have been more reassuring if you hadn't just thrown batwing in a herbal potion!"

The two stared at the potion as it slowly stopped hissing, it's swirling contents becoming still. The purple mixture returned to it's innocuous state and Wyatt let out a breath of relief as Chris still eyed it warily.

"See, everything's fi…" The blast from the pot hit both Wyatt and Chris sending them toppling into the far wall of the attic as the purple potion leaked onto the floor from the blackened and broken tub.

The first thought that Chris had upon opening his eyes was that he was never going to repeat that particular action ever again. "Ugh," he croaked out, throwing an arm over his eyes to protect them from the sunlight streaming through the window at the end of the attic.

"Tell me about it," a crabby voice muttered from the side of him. Chris dared open his eyes just a crack to see Wyatt sprawled next to him, his normally neat blond hair in disarray.

Chris groaned again and massaged his temples slowly. "Okay," he said, his own voice sounding ridiculously loud to his ears. "Even I wasn't expecting that to happen."

"And you always come up with the worst case scenario."  
  
"Another gift," muttered Chris, trying to lift his protesting limbs. He managed to struggle into a sitting position, seeing from the corner of his eye Wyatt doing the same. The waves of nausea that swam through his stomach made him topple slightly, Wyatt's arm catching him and leaning him against his shoulder.

"Just sit still for a minute, 'kay?" Chris tried to nod his ascent but the action just made him feel even more ill. "I'm sure we won't feel so ill in a minute."

"Uh-huh," said Chris, "and Aunt Phoebe is going to forgive us for giving Mel donkey ears."

The opening of the door caught Chris' attention but he decided not to open his eyes again. For one thing it might make him throw up again, and for another thing he'd learnt the more pathetic you looked the less your relatives were likely to kill you.

"Shit," Wyatt whispered. Chris opened his eyes quickly in surprise, making the room spin violently around him.

"What?" said Chris, worriedly, "What did we break this time?" The room stopped spinning and Chris felt an entirely different kind of sick.

The familiar attic around them wasn't looking quite so familiar. And the woman stood in the doorway, her mouth hanging open, looked like a far too familiar Piper Halliwell.


	2. Chapter 2

"Huh," said Wyatt.

Chris turned to stare at him incredulously and whispered hurriedly; "Huh? Our dead mother is stood in the doorway and all you can say is huh?"

"What am I supposed to say?" Wyatt whispered back; "Hey Mom, how's it going. We're your sons from the future and, oh, you're dead?"

Chris stared at him for a second and then nodded his head. "Okay, you're right. That probably wouldn't go over too well."  
  
Piper cleared her throat from the doorway. "Erm, excuse me? I get why you're looking a little shocked because I'm guessing you're my sons from the future and in said future, I'm dead." Piper spread her hands as she said this, a nervous laugh bubbling at the end of the speech as the two stared back at her, completely dumbfounded.

"Piper?" A voice called from the stairway, "What's going on?" Phoebe appeared next to Piper. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned before catching sight of the brothers still sat on the floor. Her eyes widened comically before she screeched; "Chris!" and dove across the room, enveloping her younger nephew in a rib-crushing hug.

Piper sighed and walked into the room, shaking her head. Chris froze in his Aunt's grasp and peered warily out of the corner of his eye at Wyatt. "Wy? I think Aunt Phoebe's crazy in the past."  
  
"In the past?" Wyatt replied, with a smirk.

Phoebe froze, leaning away from Chris to turn slowly towards Wyatt. "Wyatt?" she asked, her voice breathy.

Wyatt looked confused. "Yeah, that's me. Oldest nephew, bearer of Excalibur, Twice-Blessed child and all that schitck." He glanced suddenly at Chris. "How did you know Chris but not me?"

"Chris!" The yell came from the doorway as Paige barrelled through, ignoring Piper's protests and shoving Phoebe out of the way. She threw her arms around Chris, his expression this time less shocked and more just resigned.

"Hey, Aunt Paige," he said, patting her on the back. An idea seemed to suddenly strike him. "Hey, can I borrow ten bucks?"

"Chris!" Wyatt protested, finally standing up and pulling his Aunt Paige with him. Chris shrugged and stood up.

"Worth a try."  
  
"Okay, okay," Piper intervened. "We need to work out exactly what the hell is going on, okay?"

"Hey, is that Wyatt?" Paige asked, her voice surprised.

Piper wove a hand at her. "Later. Right now let's just see if we can get everything…"

A tinkle of orbs interrupted her and Piper looked down at her feet to see a three year-old Wyatt perched innocently there. "Wyatt!" she said exasperated, bending to scoop up the toddler.

Chris' and Wyatt's eyes widened and they took a synchronised step back. "Wyatt?" said Wyatt. "That's me? Holy crap."  
  
Piper nodded. "Yup, this is your toddler self."  
  
"Weren't you cute?" Phoebe added. "I picked out that pair of dungarees," she added proudly.  
  
Wyatt eyed the duck covered dungarees and then glanced at Chris. "Remind me to hate Aunt Phoebe forever for that particular fashion failure."

Chris shrugged. "I would, but I'm like one." Chris then grinned evilly. "Hey, maybe you should hold yourself. You, know toss a ball at your head. Because, I'm thinking that's what happened anyway."  
  
Wyatt glared at him. "You're sick and twisted and, oh so, wrong."

"It's fun," Chris replied flippantly, "Ooh, maybe you should get mini-you a tattoo and then we can see it appear on your skin and it'll be really cool."  
  
Piper held Wyatt closer. "No-one is getting a tattoo."

Staring incredulously at Chris, Paige muttered. "Wow, he really did change a hell of a lot."  
  
"What?" Chris asked. He looked suddenly worried. "Who changed what? Because the last time we travelled through time Wyatt nearly killed Shakespeare with a bit of banana skin."

"Gee, Chris, for once could you be Mr. Positive?"

"No, not when you nearly killed Shakespeare with a bit of banana skin."

Wyatt closed his eyes briefly and breathed deeply. "Okay, regardless of my brother's rantings, who did change what? And why did you recognise Chris?"

Realisation dawned on Chris. "Oh God, you knew me." The sisters all looked away guiltily. "I came back and changed something, didn't I?"

Wyatt looked shocked. "What did he change? And how long was he here? Because you all seemed pretty chummy with him."

Phoebe laughed nervously. "Chris? Us know Chris? We didn't know Chris! There was no knowledge of Chris anywhere in this house," she laughed, "Well, except for baby you, of course, because we know that Chris. Because, you know, Piper gave birth to him and we were there for a bit of it. But, know Chris as in you Chris. Nu-uh. No knowing over here. Because he certainly never came back in time to stop Wyatt from turning evil and then got himself killed, no way did that ever hap…" She clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes growing wider with each second as everyone stared at her, shocked. She removed her hand and faced her angry sisters. "I can't keep a secret, you know this!"

"I was evil?" Wyatt asked slowly. Piper turned to him hurriedly.

"Oh, honey. That was a completely different timeline. Now you're good. Right?" She glanced at Chris for confirmation.

But Chris was still staring at Phoebe. "I died?" He asked, weakly.

Paige stepped forward. "You saved your brother."

Wyatt put his hand on Chris' shoulder as though to make sure he was still there. "And I guess you changed everything for the better."

Phoebe nodded her head. "Yup, Wyatt's good and you seem far less neurotic."  
  
Wyatt shook his head. "Oh, he's still neurotic," he smiled, "but it's completely endearing."

Chris still looked as though he was going to throw up. "Kis!" cried the toddler in Piper's arms, trying to grab onto Chris' shirt, and Wyatt looked at his younger self.

"Wow, I guess I really did know you," he scrunched his face up, "Weird." He noticed his brother's stare, peering at their mother. "Chris?" He asked softly.

Chris turned to look at him, tears brimming in his eyes. "If I managed to make everything better, then why didn't I save her?"

Wyatt took a deep breath and made to say something but Chris just shrugged his brother's hand off his shoulder and ran out of the attic.


	3. Chapter 3

The inside of the Halliwell manor had changed very little over the years, in fact the only really obvious change that Chris could see as he ran down the stairs was that his father was stood in the foyer.

And that rarely happened in the future.

Chris skidded to a stop, throwing out a hand to grab the banister at the foot of the stairs. "Dad?" He asked weakly.

If the situation hadn't been so downright weird Chris would have laughed at the look on his dad's face. Shock was the easiest way to describe it but Chris really thought that he looked like he might throw up.

"Chris?" His voice was even weaker than Chris' had been. And then he was across the foyer and throwing his arms around Chris.

Chris felt his entire body tense up and he hesitantly put his arms around his father's shoulders. "But how?" Leo asked, finally disengaging himself and stepping back to look properly at his son.

Chris shrugged. "If you're thinking I came back from the dead then sorry, not so much."

Leo frowned in confusion. "Then I don't understand…"  
  
"Chris!" Wyatt bounded down the stairs, closely followed by his aunts. He caught sight of his dad and froze, his eyes, his father's eyes, wide.

Unfortunately his Aunt Phoebe failed to notice that Wyatt had stopped and she went careening into him. Pitching forward Wyatt flew into Chris, who, used to his brother barrelling into him after two decades of play fighting, immediately orbed out, causing Wyatt to fall to the floor.

Phoebe grimaced from her position on the stairs, where Paige had managed to grab her arm. "Sorry."

Chris reappeared next to his brother, a grin flashing across his face for an instant before he caught sight of Piper again.

He sighed heavily. "Okay, maybe running away into a past that I have no idea about wasn't the best idea ever."

Wyatt picked himself off of the floor, shooting his Aunt Phoebe a glare. "You think?" he said sarcastically. He looked over at his father, who was watching him warily. "Hey, Dad."

Leo raised a hand to pat baby Wyatt's head, his little arms reaching happily for his father from his mother's arms. "Hello, Wyatt," his voice was cool, "You cut your hair."

Chris looked at Wyatt. "What?"

"Erm, Leo," said Piper, slowly, "time travel, remember? This Wyatt was never evil and this Chris isn't our Chris."

"Well, he is our Chris, just not _our _Chris," interjected Phoebe. She opened her mouth to continuing talking and Paige waved her hand.

"We get it," Phoebe shot her an annoyed glance. "We _really_ get it."

"Yeah, so maybe we should be getting back to our own time," Wyatt suggested, looking warily at his younger brother who was still watching his mother, "You know, there are people to see, demons to vanquish…"

"…girls to propose to," interrupted Chris.

"Propose to?" Phoebe asked gleefully.

"No," said Wyatt, lightly batting Chris upside the head.

"No?" said Chris, fully in younger brother mode now, "Ah, she'll be so disappointed. I mean, just yesterday she was asking if I thought whether she'd look better in cream or white for the dress and if lilies were an appropriate flower for the bouquet."  
  
Wyatt's eyes were wide. "She didn't?" he croaked out.

Chris laughed and the sound was so foreign to the sisters and Leo that they actually looked shocked. "Of course not! Like Bianca would talk flowers and girly crap like that."  
  
"Bianca?" Paige asked quickly.

The brothers looked at her and Wyatt groaned. "Oh God, let me guess. She was the Queen of my Underworld or something wasn't she? All evil, with black eyeliner, pointy heels and leather whips?"  
  
"Leather whips?" Chris questioned, a gleam in his eyes. "Didn't know you had it in you, Wy."

"You shut up," Wyatt warned, light-heartedly.

The others all glanced at each other. "Erm, well she did _wear_ leather. Can't say I ever saw any whips." Paige offered warily.

Chris grinned happily. "She wore leather?" he said, excitedly as though he was being told there would be two Christmases that year.

"You shut up," Wyatt warned, less light-heartedly.

Phoebe walked over to the boys. "Chris? You never, you know," she glanced warily at Wyatt, "had feelings for Bianca?"  
  
Chris and Wyatt looked completely shocked. "Bianca?" Chris said, his voice higher than normal. "Wyatt's Bianca?"

"Yes," Wyatt said tersely, "**Wyatt's Bianca.**"

"So no feelings?" Paige asked.

"Erm, no," Chris said, as though it should be obvious. "She's like five years older than me!" He glanced quickly at Wyatt. "I mean not that an older woman is a bad thing. Three years is just fine. In fact maybe I should stop dating girls that I go to college with and look for an older woman. Because it's worked so well for you…"

"Quit while you're ahead, little brother."

"Okay, I'll do that."

Piper looked between the pair. "So, Chris, you would never, say, propose to her?"  
  
"Propose?" If possible, Chris' voice was even higher. "I'm like twenty-two!"

Wyatt cleared his throat. "As amusing as it is to find out that my little brother got it on with my girlfriend in a different time line, I think we'll be leaving now."

Leo nodded, his expression still a little shell shocked. "That's probably a good idea."

A loud crying filled the room and Phoebe's face lit up. "And there's baby you!" She pointed happily at Chris.

Wyatt's face lit up. "Ooh, this is gonna be fun."  
  
Piper smiled. "Leo, can you go get him?"

Nodding, Leo left the room, barely taking his eyes off his youngest son.

He reappeared a few minutes later, shushing a small baby boy, dressed in a pair of dungarees that matched Wyatt's larger pair.

"I picked out those dungarees for you too, Chris." Phoebe said proudly.

Wyatt and Chris exchanged a glance.

Wyatt spoke first. "Never would've guessed and, oh yeah, Aunt Phoebe?"

"Never going to forgive you for that," Chris finished

Leo went to stand beside Piper and baby Wyatt glared at baby Chris, leaning forward to hit him on the head.

"Wyatt!" Piper scolded.

"Yeah, Wyatt!" Chris said, bashing his chuckling older brother around the head.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Anyway maybe you should get back. Because it seems that the timeline is actually kind of okay," he smiled at Wyatt, "and maybe we should keep it that way."

Wyatt nodded slowly, his eyes on his mother. When he spoke, he sounded unsure. "You're right, we should get back."

Chris stared at him like he'd gone insane. "No! We have to try and save her!"

"Chris…" Wyatt started.

"No! Don't give me any crap, Wyatt! She's my mother!"  
  
"She's mine too!" Wyatt yelled. They both froze, staring at each other.

"Chris," Piper said softly, depositing baby Wyatt with Paige and coming to stand in front of Chris. "I already know that I'm going to die when you turn fourteen," they stared at her, shocked. "You told your Grandfather," she explained.

"And we'll try and stop it," Paige said.

"But sometimes you can't," Phoebe said softly.

"Well this time I will," Chris said firmly, orbing out of the manor.

"Chris!" Wyatt yelled, grabbing hold of nothing but a blur of orbs. "Dammit!"

"Where would he have gone?" Phoebe demanded of Wyatt.

"Where do you think?" Wyatt asked, "He's gone to kill the demon that kills Mom."  
  
"Oh, God," Piper looked faint.

Wyatt stood still for a moment and closed his eyes. "Dammit!" he swore again, "the idiot's blocking me!"

"Blocking you?" Leo asked, curiously.

"I can normally sense him," Wyatt said angrily marching around the foyer.

"A Twice-Blessed child thing?" Paige asked.

Wyatt shook his head. "A two very powerful brothers thing."

"Erm, shouldn't we be trying to go and save Chris' life?" Piper asked, angrily. "Chris is going to get himself killed."

"Oh, he'll be fine till I get a hold of him," Wyatt said.

"But we were always saving Chris' ass," Paige said, curiously.

Wyatt looked at her, looking honestly surprised. "But Chris is the son of a Charmed One and a Whitelighter. Of course, he's powerful."

"Well, he didn't act like it."

Wyatt's brow furrowed in thought. "I guess most of his powers developed after he was fourteen."

"After I died," Piper said softly.

Wyatt glanced at her. "Yes," he said sadly, "and I guess if I was evil then there wasn't really anyone around to teach him how to control them."  
  
"What about us?" Phoebe asked, sounding alarmed.

"Well, sure, you're around," Wyatt said quickly, "but you've all got your own stuff going on. And if Chris couldn't control a power completely, he'd never use it. Anyway, don't worry, Chris will be fine dealing with a few demons. That's not even an issue. What's an issue is that he's messing with a past that he shouldn't be."

"What about me?" Leo asked quietly, holding baby Chris closer to him, "Why wasn't I around to help Chris?"  
  
Wyatt swallowed and looked sadly at Piper. He closed his eyes briefly and when he reopened them they were glistening. "Just imagine losing her."

Paige walked up to him slowly, placing a hand on his arm. "Wyatt, from what you're saying, maybe it's a good thing that Chris is killing this demon."

Wyatt sighed. "You don't understand."  
  
Phoebe echoed his sigh. "Now you sound like your brother!"

"Look, when that demon attacked," he swallowed heavily, "when Mom died, there was a group of them," he sighed again, "And we were losing. And, well, Chris didn't have that great a control on the link between his emotions and his powers then and when he saw Mom dead he just pretty much lost it," he paused, looking at the tiny baby in Leo's arms. "Blew them all up with a thought. An entire brethren of demons."

Phoebe let out a low whistle as Leo tightened his hold still further on the small baby and Paige put an arm around Piper. Wyatt walked away from them and stood with his back to his family.

"And if Mom doesn't die then I'm scared that…" he looked over his shoulder, tears in his eyes, "And it's not that I don't love you Mom. But… but he's my brother. And killing that demon, as crazy as it might sound, might kill him. And he's my brother. And I don't think I could deal with that."


	4. Chapter 4

Chris' first memory of the Underworld was when he was about six years old and had been kidnapped by a band of angry demons.

He didn't remember much about the experience except for Piper being really pissed, blowing them all up and then letting him have some extra ice cream for dessert. Chris soaked up the sisters' sympathy for all of ten minutes until he accidentally turned Wyatt's hair purple.

Personally, Chris had always thought it looked better that colour.

Since that first experience Chris had spent a great deal of time down in the Underworld, either killing demons or being kidnapped by them. He much preferred the former.

And the former was the reason that Chris was stood in the middle of a cavernous room, blood red stalactites nearly reaching the floor as they wove around ornate pillars that did nothing except make the cave seem a little classier than a hole in the ground.

Of course any classiness was completely undone by the four steaming piles of black robes dotted around the room.

The remaining demon was cowering against a pillar, his horns shaking, as he watched Chris advance towards him. If Chris had left him his arms he would have been holding them up in surrender.

"I'm going to ask you again, slowly," Chris raised a hand and the demon felt a familiar burning pain begin in his foot. "Where is Pertinax?"

The demon stared up at him, not saying a word. Chris twisted his hand and the burning began to move up his leg. "Okay, okay!" Yelled the demon and Chris froze in surprise. The deep, Australian accent wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting. "Look, mate, I think I know the bloke you're looking for."  
  
"Erm," Chris stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, forgetting his role as the terrifying interrogator, "So you know where he is, right?"

"Well, I might be able to think better if I still I had my rooting arms!"

"Oh," Chris looked sheepish and waved his hands slightly, causing one of the demon's arms to reappear. He looked slightly happy for a moment and then a shackle appeared from the air and looped around his arm, pinning it to the column.

"What, I don't even get 'em both back?"

Chris crossed his arms. "You're still a demon. And I still want answers."  
  
The demon shook his head. "Look, you bloody idiot, Pertinax gets around," Chris gestured for him to continue and flicked his wrist so the demon felt the little finger of his newly restored hand fall off. "But," said the demon, sighing, "I'm thinking he might have gone a walkabout up round the northern lava pools. You know where I mean?"  
  
"By that demon bar?"  
  
"We prefer to be called 'evil beings', you know," Chris tapped his foot in impatience, "yeah, it's up there."

Chris smiled at the demon. "Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome," the demon, trying to twist his grotesque face into a semblance of a smile, "and you're gonna give me me arms back, right?"

Chris shrugged, "Fine." He flicked his hand at the demon as he orbed away.

The demon smiled happily as his arms reappeared, to be replaced quickly with a frown as heavy metal chains bound him to the pillar. "Oh, you bloody whacka. Just rack off, then!"

* * *

When Chris had turned eighteen, Wyatt had deemed him old enough to drink. When Chris had looked at him disbelievingly, Wyatt had shrugged and said that short of orbing to England the best he could do was take his little brother to a local demon bar and get him plastered whilst blowing up some of the more uncouth customers.

Chris didn't remember much of the experience, twelve demon infused tequila slammers will do that to a guy, but he was fairly certain that the bar he was stood in front of was the bar that Wyatt had taken him. Was going to take him. Whatever. Chris hated tenses.

He glanced around, rubbing the back of his head. Wyatt sensing him was turning into a full blown yell that was sure to cause him a migraine if he wasn't careful. Of course, he could just talk to his big brother but Chris knew that all Wyatt would be full of was some sane, sensible advice. And Chris wasn't really in the mood for sane, sensible advice.

Because his mother's killer was stood right in front of him.

A cold, hard hate settled through Chris, a primitive side of his brain doing nothing but calling for revenge. He clenched and unclenched his fists at his side and he felt his jaw do the same as he angrily eyed the demon in front of him.

Apparently Pertinax had just been going for an afternoon drink when Chris had surprised him, evidenced by the buxom blonde who was clinging to his arm. The tall demon looked him up and down, his long leather jacket swirling in the heat from the lava behind him. He laughed, showing off three rows of pointed, yellow teeth.

"Hey, babe, why don't you go get us a table?" Pertinax whispered down the blonde, his hand tightening on her shoulder as he saw the way she was appreciatively eyeing Chris.

"Sure," she said, her breathy voice more suited to a Marilyn Monroe-esque model than a demonic blonde, whose slanted green eyes winked at Chris as she sashayed by, not missing the opportunity to run a hand down his chest. He tail swung tantalisingly round one of his legs before she purred in frustration and walked into the bar.

Chris didn't even notice her go, his entire attention was fixed on the demon in front of him, remembering the way that his clawed hands fastened around his mother's throat.

"Look, little boy," Pertinax said politely, dusting his hands down his coat, "You may have noticed that I'm a little busy," he gestured at the bar, "so can we just get this over with?"

Chris growled himself and when he spoke he was almost surprised at himself, his voice was that low and cold. "You have no idea how easily I could kill you."  
  
Pertinax began to look slightly annoyed, "Look, _little boy_, I. Do. Not. Have time for this. And I don't like to play with those I don't need to kill."  
  
"Did you need to kill my mother?" Chris yelled before he could stop himself.

Pertinax laughed then, a sound like nails running across a chalkboard. "Ah, so this is a revenge thing, then?" He clapped his hands together. "Let me guess, your mother was a witch who got in my way and now you're here to avenge her death, yadda, yadda, yadda." His eyes narrowed to slits. "Well, I don't have time for that." With an animalistic growl he leapt forward.

With barely a flick of wrist Chris sent him flying behind him. Pertinax sailed through the air, twisting so that he landed on his feet. He ran forward to Chris' now exposed back and Chris just smiled grimly picking him up in a telekinetic hold and spinning him so that he was facing Chris.

Tightening his grip around his throat so that Pertinax began to choke, his hands scrambling uselessly at his own neck. Chris focused and Pertinax's hands flew to the sides, impaled in the air by non-existent nails. Hanging there, choking to death, Pertinax began to kick his legs uselessly.

"You see," Chris said conversationally, "there was a problem with your little scenario. Because my mother wasn't just a normal witch. She was a Charmed One."

Pertinax's eyes widened from more than just being choked to death. 

Chris laughed. "Oh, I know what you're thinking. None of the Charmed One's have adult children. But, you see, I'm from the future. And now you are never going to have the chance to kill her." All humour vanished from his voice. "Because I'm going to kill you first."

With a thud Pertinax dropped from the air. As he caught his breath he looked up and grinned evilly at Chris, flexing his talons as he began to stand. And then a new expression crossed his face.

Chris tilted his head and watched him, his eyes blank. "Want to know what you're feeling?" Pertinax's eyes began to bulge out of his head. "That's me. Crushing your heart." A strangled scream erupted from the demon's throat and Chris laughed. "That was my thumb. Being stuck into your heart."

Pertinax fell to the ground, his mouth open in a scream.

Kneeling Chris watched him, as though to ensure he was really dead. "And that was me killing you."


	5. Chapter 5

"Wyatt? Would you _please _sit down?" Phoebe asked from her position sprawled across the couch. "All your pacing is making _me _anxious."

"He should be back by now," Wyatt mumbled, mainly to himself, each word punctuated by a step as he walked up and down the entrance to the living room.

"I'm sure he's fine," Piper said consolingly, rocking baby Chris in her arms. She shot her sisters a worried gaze and Paige shrugged.

"I mean you said he has all those powers and stuff, right?" Paige said, the last word slightly desperate as she rose from her seat to place a hand on Piper's shoulder.

Wyatt paused for a moment, studying the carpet intently and crossing his arms. "Look, Mom, Aunts and baby versions of my younger brother and myself, I'm perfectly aware that he's able to look after himself. But there's also the fact that he's my little brother and there were too many times when we were little that I had to go rescue his ass because he hadn't got a handle on his powers yet. Oh, and then there's the fact that I pretty much raised him after the age of fourteen," Wyatt was beginning to pace again, his voice getting louder, "So, yeah, I think I'm entitled to be a little worried!"

Piper looked more nervous than she had before. "'Lots of times you had to save him'? Oh God, you two are going to make me worry so much, aren't you?"

Wyatt cringed. "Well, we try not to, Mom. But it's kind of difficult when the demons come to us rather than the other way around."

"Oh God," Piper repeated. Paige quickly grabbed her arm, lowering her onto the couch as Phoebe grabbed baby Chris.

"Oh, come on Piper," Paige said jovially, "you knew that two magical children were going to be a bitch to raise. You got through the whole labour thing, don't go complaining now!"

"In her own weird way Paige's right," Phoebe added, shooting Paige an odd look, "I mean look at them, honey. They turn out pretty good even with everything."  
  
"Aunt Phoebe's right," Wyatt added helpfully. "We're both good kids and I'd like for you to remember that around the date of or perhaps exactly on Chris' eighth birthday."  
  
The sisters all looked at him.

"I can't say anymore," Wyatt said quickly, holding his hands up in surrender.

"You mean you won't say anymore," Piper accused suspiciously.

"Hey, future consequences and all that!"

Piper folded her arms and fixed him with a glare that made Wyatt fidget his feet on the worn carpet. Luckily for him Piper's interrogation was interrupted by the tinkle of orbs and the appearance of Leo supporting a giggling Chris.

"You found him," Paige pointed out unnecessarily, her eyes wide as she watched her nephew lean heavily into Leo.

"Chris?" Wyatt asked in disbelief. "Please God let the massive amounts of alcohol you have so obviously consumed mean that you didn't find the demon that killed Mom. Will kill Mom. Whatever, you are way too drunk to care about my tenses!"

Chris exaggeratedly shook his head. "Nu-uh, Wy." He stumbled away from Leo and flopped into a chair. "Wy, Wy, Wy," he giggled. "Your name sounds like why."

"Christopher," Wyatt said, a definite warning in his voice.

"I found him!" Chris said happily and Wyatt visibly sagged, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh God," he murmured before turning to Leo, "Where did you find him?"

Leo crossed his arms, obviously not happy talking about where he found his drunken offspring. "Up at some demon bar by the Northern lava pools in the Underworld."

"Yup," said Chris, rejoining the conversation loudly, "You remember that bar, right Wyatt? The one we went to when I turned eighteen?"

Piper turned angrily on her oldest son. "You take him out drinking when he's eighteen!?"

At that moment Wyatt looked for all the world like a child caught stealing cookies. "No?" He tried.

"Wyatt! I will be looking to you to take responsibility for your little brother and now I find out…"

"Piper, honey," Leo said consolingly, placing a hand on her upper arm. "Now may not be the best time."

Piper huffed. "Fine! But we are talking about this later, young man!" She warned, pointing a finger at a now smirking Wyatt. "And you two can stop smiling!" She yelled, whirling to point at Phoebe and Paige in turn.

"Anyway," Wyatt said, sighing heavily, "Chris, what happened?"

Wyatt moved slowly to crouch in front of his brother. Unfortunately Chris was occupied staring at the ceiling and humming happily to himself.

"Christopher," Wyatt tried again.

"God, he's good at that parental yelling thing, isn't he?" Phoebe whispered to Paige under her breath.

Chris jerked his head back and blinked rapidly as the room chose that moment to spin violently around him. A smile lit up his face as he saw Wyatt crouched there. "Wyatt!" He didn't say anything more, just went to flop his head back again and continued humming. Wyatt sighed in annoyance and grabbed his head, tilting it up so that Chris had to stare at him. Chris frowned in an attempt at concentration. "What's up?"

Wyatt sighed again and he distinctly heard Paige stifle a giggle. "What happened with the demon, Christopher?"  
  
"Oh, I killed it," Chris replied nonchalantly. He tried to tilt his head away but Wyatt held firm. Chris sighed loudly and removed Wyatt's hand forcefully. "Fi-ine. I went to a bar I was told he would be at by a demon with an Australian accent. Aren't Australian accents cool? They're all Australiany.

"And then I killed him, not the demon with the Australian accent but Pertinax, because the only reason that stupid demon ever won fights was because he stayed in a gang and then his date flirted with me and got me drunk. She was pretty. And drunk. Or maybe I was just drunk. Though she was definitely pretty. I think. Wyatt, you'll have to meet her and tell me if she's pretty."

Wyatt breathed deeply and stood up. "So let me get this straight. You killed Pertinax."  
  
"And got a date," Chris added triumphantly.

"And you got drunk why?" Leo asked, sounding so like a scolding parent that Piper smiled.

Chris shrugged, grinning happily. "Dunno." He looked confused for a second. "I was only ordering orange juice."

"They spike all their drinks with alcohol. It's a _demon_ bar, Chris," Wyatt explained absent-mindedly. He was staring out of the window, looking pensive when he suddenly sat heavily on the couch. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"  
  
"Gotten drunk?" Chris guessed, his head once again thrown back and fixedly admiring the ceiling.

"Wyatt, maybe it's all okay," Piper said, coming forward to rest a hand on his shoulder. "I mean Chris," he looked up at the mention of his name, "I mean the Chris who came to stop evil Wyatt," Chris dropped his head back again, "could never tell when he'd changed something. It wasn't like his memories would change. But you're both still here and that means that neither of you died in the attack."  
  
"Good point, Mom," Chris said sleepily.

"Go to sleep, sweetie," Phoebe suggested gently, looking at both the Chris in her arms and the one passed out in the chair.

"It wasn't like we were the only people there, you know!" Wyatt yelled. Chris' head shot up and blinked at him sleepily.

"Don't yell, you'll wake me up," Chris said and on cue baby Chris began to cry.

Piper shot Wyatt a disapproving glance and went to retrieve the baby from Phoebe, hushing it when it was in her arms.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked.

"I mean that yes, we were all there but there were also innocents involved and…other people." Wyatt looked directly at Phoebe as he said this.

"My child?" Phoebe guessed.

"Mel," Chris added, half-asleep.

"Mel?" Phoebe said happily, a grin breaking out on her face. "I have a little girl?"

"Chris!" Wyatt reprimanded and then he pointed at Phoebe. "Mel can be a boy's name too."

Phoebe wrinkled her nose. "Oh, you guys are no fun," she shrugged, "well, drunken Chris is."

"I'm so glad you like my drunken son," Piper said sarcastically, lightly batting Phoebe in the back of the head.

"Anyway," Leo said, "back to the issue at hand. Wyatt, there is nothing you can do about any of this. It's been changed now. The only thing you can do is go back to your time and see what has happened."

Wyatt sighed and regarded his father seriously. "You're right, Dad." Leo beamed at the name. A slight snore made Wyatt glance in the direction of the chair. "But maybe we'll wait till Boy Wonder has woken up."  
  
Paige laughed. "That might be a good idea. Hey, want to go play with yourself?" Phoebe barked out a laugh. "Okay, that came out wrong. But you know what I meant!" She stalked past Phoebe. "Mind in the gutter!"

"Actually," Wyatt said thoughtfully, "That might be a kinda cool idea."

Piper smiled. "Come on then. We'll leave your little brother asleep and you can play with much smaller versions of him and yourself. However weird that really, really is."

* * *

A hammer was splitting his head in two. That was Chris' first coherent thought as he slowly gained consciousness. He tried vainly to remember how he had got home the previous night and could only come up with a vague memory of slanted green eyes and his father's arms.

That didn't sound right.

Chris blearily opened his eyes and then decided that closing them again straight away might be a good idea.

"Don't even think about it," Wyatt warned. He was perched on the coffee table looking distinctly pissed off.

"But you look really mad," Chris muttered, his voice hoarse. "And when you look really mad I like to keep my eyes closed."

"_I_ look really mad? You want me to bring Mom in here?"

"Fine, fine," carefully Chris peeled his eyes open. Wyatt's expression hadn't changed. "You know this really wasn't my fault."

Wyatt raised an eyebrow. "What? You didn't run off to kill a demon whose death would unequivocally change the future?"  
  
Chris paused. "Okay, _that _I did. Though 'unequivocally' is a really mean word to use on a hungover person. What I meant was that I was only ordering orange juice and therefore the whole drunkenness was so not my fault."  
  
Quirking a tired grin Wyatt offered his brother a tall glass of a steaming green mixture. "Yeah, you always say that," he said wryly, "and yet the recipe for hangover potion is one I know off by heart."

"And you being all against personal gain," Chris mocked kindly as he took a sip of the noxious potion that really never tasted better with time.

"Actually that's you. And I still say potions don't count. Anyway," Wyatt began, his voice becoming more tired and his expression becoming serious, "you killed the demon."  
  
"Pertinax," Chris supplied.

"I know his name, Chris," Wyatt said, an edge to his voice. "Do you know what you did by killing him?"

"Saved Mom," Chris said, an edge creeping it's way into his voice as well. He placed his glass next to Wyatt who stood and began pacing the instant it hit the surface.

"Are you sure about that?" Wyatt demanded. "Or maybe you just killed Aunt Paige or Aunt Phoebe or Uncle Daniel or…or Mel!"

Wyatt froze as he watched Chris' face go white.

"I saved Mom," he said in a small, far more unsure, voice.

Wyatt sat back down, leaning forward to grab Chris' hands. "I know you were just trying to help," he smiled quickly, "time-travelling to solve problems appears to be a genetic quirk of yours. But you don't know what you did."  
  
"What do we do?" Chris asked softly, his features drawn.

Wyatt sighed, his hand cupping the back of Chris' head in a brotherly gesture. "We go back. Or move forward."

"Or whatever. Tenses suck."

"They really do."


	6. Chapter 6

"I'm going to miss you so much," Phoebe mumbled into Chris' shoulder. He patted her on the back, grinning at Wyatt over his aunt's shoulder.

"It's college all over again," Chris said to his brother.

Wyatt, busy hugging his Aunt Paige, grinned back. "Nah, not until Aunt Phoebe bursts into tears and Aunt Paige grabs the video camera."

"Okay, okay, Paige move," Piper commanded, waving her arms erratically at her sister. "I want a hug."

Sniffling slightly, Paige moved, replacing Phoebe in Chris' arms as her other sister went to stand next to Leo, who was watching the scene with a fond expression having already said his goodbyes.

Wyatt wrapped his arms around his mother, remembering how tiny she was. He breathed in the scent of her shampoo, it's familiarity causing tears to spring to his eyes.

"I'm glad you're not evil anymore," Piper murmured into his shoulder, a hint of humour in her voice.

Wyatt barked out a choked laugh, his eyes full of unshed tears. "Well, I'm glad about that too."

Piper leaned back to look at him, soaking in the sight of her first-born child all grown-up. "I love you so much, honey. God, you get so big." Phoebe giggled from where she was stood with an arm slung around Paige and Piper shot her a mock glare over her shoulder. "I know that's obvious! But still, this is my baby boy." She raised a hand to Wyatt's cheek, tracing the contours of his face. "Have a good life, okay." She turned to Chris and then seemingly remembering something span back to Wyatt. "Oh, and propose to Bianca."  
  
Wyatt blanched at the idea as Chris laughed.

"Don't laugh at your brother," Piper said smiling as she reached up to hug her youngest son.

"God, you have no idea how good it is to hear those familiar words," Chris whispered, wrapping his arms tightly around Piper's small frame.

"Chris," said Piper suddenly serious, she leaned back a few inches to look up at him closely. "I've lost you before and I love you far too much to want to lose you again, okay?"

"I don't understand," Chris said, his face wrinkled in confusion.

"Whatever happens when you get back to your time, and I mean _whatever_, you have to promise me you won't try and come back and change things again," Piper said, her voice pleading.

"You mean if you're still dead you don't want me to come back and save you," Chris said, with tears in his eyes.

"Yeah," said Piper, tears brimming in her eyes as well.

"But I came back before and everything is better now!" Chris said loudly, trying to break Piper's embrace.

She just held tighter, forcing him to look at her. "You came back to make the world better, Chris. And okay, a lot of it was to do with saving your brother, but that wasn't your big goal. And I don't want you to destroy something just for me. Promise me?"

Chris stared at her, refusing to speak. "Promise me?" Piper repeated, more insistent.

"I promise," he said, his voice low and choked.

Piper burst into tears then and hugged Chris tight, gesturing for Wyatt to join the hug. She grabbed her oldest son the instant he came near and the three stood, arms wrapped around each other, tears streaming down their faces.

"Okay, okay," Piper said through her tears disentangling herself from the embrace. She wiped hastily at her face and groped blindly behind her for Leo's comforting presence. "Go before I change my mind and keep you here."  
  
The brothers stared for one more moment at their family, and their mother in particular, before turning towards the attic wall.

Grabbing each other's hands they stood and began to recite;

This Twice-Blessed child and younger be,

Pray that this rhyme shall be our key,

To invoke the power of the Halliwell line,

To send us forward through space and time.

A purple mist began to glow around the two boys until all that their family could see were two hazy silhouettes and then suddenly they just weren't there anymore.

"Damn, they really were powerful," Paige remarked to no-one in particular.

* * *

"You know, maybe we should redecorate the attic," Wyatt said, peering around the room and finding it frighteningly similar as the purple haze around them disappeared. "Chris?"

He turned to find his brother staring at the door with an odd expression on his face. Feeling a burst of hope Wyatt span towards the entrance to find nothing more than his aunts stood in the doorway.

"Hey guys," Phoebe said, smiling sympathetically at them as she walked inside.

"Nice trip?" Paige added with a pointed look.

"Hey Aunt Paige," Wyatt said, his tone suffused with forced cheerfulness. "How's the headache?"

Chris didn't even bother trying to be cheerful. "She's still dead, isn't she?"  
His voice told them all that he already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry honey," Phoebe said, walking towards him. Chris jerked out of her reach and squeezed his eyes shut. Wyatt cursed under his breath and kicked the nearest table.

"How?" Wyatt asked angrily. Paige stared at him, concerned. Both she and Phoebe knew from experience that however good the control their two nephews had it didn't mean they weren't two very powerful witches.

"There were too many demons there, right?" Chris answered bitterly. Phoebe silently nodded her head to the positive. "So, it didn't matter what I did, she was always going to die?"  
  
"It was her time," Phoebe said slowly, the words sounding weak even to her own ears.

Wyatt cursed again as Chris laughed bitterly ignoring everyone in the attic as he once again stormed out of the room.

* * *

Blinking back furious tears, Chris stumbled on the stairs, reaching blinding for the banister to halt his fall. 

"Whoa there," said a voice from the bottom of the stairs, "Where's the fire?"  
  
Chris opened his eyes to see Melinda stood at the bottom of the stairs, her eyes wide. She suddenly looked really worried.

"Oh God, there isn't actually a fire, is there?" She then suddenly looked really angry. "How many household infernos can you and Wyatt have before you realise that some ingredients just aren't supposed to be mixed?"  
  
Her familiarly caustic tones made Chris sigh wearily and sink onto the step, leaning on the banister the whole time. "No, Mel, there's no fire."  
  
"Well, that's good," she said, joining him on the step, "because I accidentally left a sweater in the attic and really don't want to see _another_ one reduced to ashes."

"You know there's only so many times we can apologise for the purple one."  
  
Mel nudged him slightly, grinning. "I'm kidding. Now why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Chris jerked his head a little to look at her, her face so like her mother's, though her thick blonde hair was unquestionably from the paternal side of the family. "What are you doing here anyway, Mel?"

"Mom had a premonition and went all frantic grabbing me and heading over to Aunt Paige's for her and Alex. Then we came over here," she slung an arm around his shoulders. "I'm guessing your hangdog expression has something to do with it."

"It's just been a long day, that's all."

"I'll say, you look like you slept in those clothes," she wrinkled her face at him, "though I _know _you weren't wearing them last night." Realization suddenly dawned on her face. "You time-travelled again, didn't you?"

Before Chris could answer a loud voice interrupted them. "Chris!" He looked up barely in time to stop himself being barrelled over by the hyperactive eight year old.

"Hey, Alex," Chris said ruefully, rubbing the boy's dark hair into a messy pile.

"Where'd you time-travel?" Alex said, positioning himself more comfortably in Chris' lap.

Mel laughed at the expression on Chris' face. Chris was interrupted from answering by another, eminently more calm voice.

"He came to visit us," Leo stood in the doorway of the kitchen, looking just the same as he had when Chris had last seen him in the attic.

"Oh," said Mel, realising what that meant as her eyes darted to the picture of her Aunt Piper on the wall.

"Hey, Alex, I made muffins," Leo said, striding towards them.

Alex immediately lit up. "Muffins!" He yelled, grabbing Mel's hand and yanking her towards the kitchen.

Leo smiled after them and then came to sit by Chris.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey," Leo answered. "You want to talk about it?"

"No," Chris paused, "Do you think I should?"  
  
"Might help you deal with effectively losing your mother twice."  
  
Chris shook his head. "Nah, I didn't lose her again." He smiled down at his hands. "It was actually pretty great just to see her again." Leo smiled at this and Chris glanced up at father. "You watched me die." Leo stiffened and looked away, the hand he had been using to rub consoling circles on Chris' back stilling abruptly. "How'd you deal with that?"

Leo turned to look at him, his smile wry. "I watched you grow up."

* * *

Wyatt was exactly where Chris thought he would be.

Perched on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.

"You couldn't have gone to sit in a nice park?" Chris asked as he carefully negotiated the bridge with the wind howling around him.

Wyatt grinned at him. "You always come up here."  
  
"Not in the wind."  
  
"I've found you up here in the snow before."  
  
"I was drunk," Chris said resentfully. "How many times do we have to have the discussion about how my drunken exploits can not be used as evidence for my normal behaviour?"

"I'd listen to the discussion if your drunken exploits _weren't _your normal behaviour. But they totally are."

Chris harrumphed and dropped down next to his brother, staring out over the bright lights of the city. He remembered when their father had first shown them this spot, saying that someone he used to know had loved it.

Wyatt had been so excited he'd 'accidentally' pushed Chris off the bridge, making the younger boy have to orb himself home. Chris allowed himself a grin at the memory. Wyatt had been in so much trouble over that. Or at least he had until Chris accidentally TKed a pot of spaghetti all over his new uncle.

"What are you grinning at?" Wyatt asked, nudging Chris with his shoulder.

"Just thinking of when Dad showed us this spot."  
  
Wyatt chuckled. "God, Mom was so mad. Yelling about how we were too young to be that high up."  
  
Laughing, Chris said; "Yeah, imagine if we'd told her about the time we accidentally orbed ourselves onto the wings of that passenger jet."  
  
Wyatt suddenly became sombre. "I wish we'd told her."  
  
"Are you insane? She would have grounded us for, like, ever."

Wyatt shrugged. "I just forgot how much I wanted her to know stuff, you know?" He watched Chris kick his feet back and forth against the metal strut. "I'm not even that mad you weren't able to save her because however much you seem to be the one with all the personal gain issues I seem to be the brother who understands the intricacies of time travel."

Chris coughed, a sound that sounded suspiciously like; "Shakespeare."  
  
"Whatever," Wyatt continued. "It was just that seeing her reminded me how much I missed her." 

"Well, yeah," Chris shrugged. "She's our Mom."

Wyatt laughed. "Trust you to break it down so simply."

"Well that's pretty much all there is to it," Chris smiled. "But you know what we do have?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"A Dad who just made muffins, two Aunts who are probably really worried, a cousin who is probably just as worried and wanting to tell us about her latest boyfriend crisis and another cousin whose hyperactive tendencies always provide some amusement."  
  
Wyatt smiled. "Not forgetting the two Uncles who keep trying to set you up with girls they work with."  
  
"Yeah," Chris paused and then continued thoughtfully, "really wish they'd stop doing that."  
  
Wyatt stood, holding out a hand to Chris. "Let's go home."  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
Wyatt stopped Chris orbing away with a hand to the shoulder. "I'm going to propose to Bianca."

"Cool."

"Want to be best man?"

"Even cooler."  
  
THE END

* * *

A/N: Okay, I know people are going to yell about me killing Piper off anyway but this was the way I always saw the story going because otherwise what's stopping Chris and Wyatt from going back and saving Prue or Andy or making Cole not evil etc., etc. See what I mean?

Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed; it really makes the difference in how much I feel like writing. And I also like to thank you for sticking with the story through the sporadic updates. If you read any of my other fic you'll be happy to know that I'm making a conscious effort to really just get the majority of them _finished_.

Thank you and good night.


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